Evening Star Newspaper, August 22, 1896, Page 12

“THE EVENING STAB, SATURDAY,, AUGUST 22, 1896--TWENTY PAGES. “The wishing tree has its devotees stead- fly, and I think they are increasing of late,” remarked one of the regular sitters in LaFayette Park. “The great majority of the wishers, however, seldom go near it until about dark in the evening, or dur- ing the night hours. It is amusing to watch the wishers as they try to get to the tree, which is the large chestnut just west of the Jackson statue, without being ob- served by others who are often waiting for a wishing chance themselves. To me it seemed the rankest kind of superstition until a few nights ago. I went up to the tree, and, placing my two hands on its trunk, I made my wish. I don't mind tell- ing you, now that it is ail over, that I wished for a hag of gold. Did I get it? Oh, no; not exactly, but, strange as It may ap- pear, just before I reached the western entrance I picked up a bag of smoking to- bacco. I was paid for my trouble, and to that extent am now a believer in the wishing tree.” co ye “It does not take long to train a lot of young men to play brass instruments, or even organize a band to play the ordinary marches, waltzes and music of that kind,” observed a popular music teacher, “pro- vided the pupils are in earnest. Of course they have to be enthusiastic on the subject and have some knowledge of music. The best brass instrument teacher this city ever had was Prof. Esputa, who at one time led the Marine Band, and who gave music Iessons to thousands of young men and young women of this city in his day. uta was a natural player as well as a jatural teacher. 1 remember once he was employed to organize a band of young men of the Carroll Institute; which then oceu- da hall on G street.. There were about young fellows in the class. After the y was raised to buy the instru- ments Prof. Esputa went to work on the iving them nightly lessons in musi considerable delay In getting ts from Boston, where they 1 been ordered, but, not anticipating any y. the band had fixed a date for an opening public performance in Carroll Hall. The instruments did not arrive until the di e the band made its first appe strange as {t may seem, with -four hours of actual posses- instruments the boys pla: the several numbers in a very satisfactory of ma r. atter of some surprise to me,” is a said Mr. F. L. Siddons, who has just re- turned from Europe, “why the electric car- riage, steam or gasoline motor wagon has t, for there are no such pi and none so weil o these carriages as those we have © weeks ago, when in Paris, I eds of them. are used for oses, as well as for pleasure a c can y take a trip In irbs of Paris without seeing some ranges all the way from s up to one thousand, a first-class carriage cost I met two parties of for a ride in these One was made up of folks comprising Dr. Croffutt’s other was of Col. Ed. Hay's were enthusiastic about the not been some of t nad thy xe ee The politicians manage their parades and displays somewhat differently in New York than they do here or in other cities,” observ ber of one of the national m committees. “They make twenty much display on parades with mount of an outlay as Is done here where. As arule, but few of the po- litical clubs, district or ward organizations own flags, banners or even the unt- forms wear. These are owned by the local campaign , and are loaned out to the clubs in the order In which they apply for them. On the return from a pa- procession, mass meeting or similar ring, the campaign committee has its nts on hand to gather up the parapher- nalla. The following day or night the same stuff is used by another organization. One of the pieces de resistance of a political procession in New York is a large cannon, mounted on a gaily decorated set of wheels. Without a cannon no procession is consid- ered exactly first-class, and organizations which happen to own their own uniforms, flags or banners have no hesitation in pa rading with the borrowed cannon. Origi- nally this style of doing things was in- vented by Col. Samuel S. Smoot, who was at one time a resident of this city. He managed it for several campaigns for the republicans. In a little while, however, the democrats got onto the , as the boys say. The great advantage of It Is the sav- ing. Expenses of the clubs or organiza- tions are thereby so reduced that it does not give each member much trouble to pay the regular dues, which are small, as also are the expenses. Bands are in this way engaged by the month, and parade always in the uniform of the club which they lead.” x eK * “The maddest man I ever saw,” said Marshell Philips, “was Gen. Sheridan, a minute or so after he had been informed that some one had sold a horse shoe, get- ting a high price for it, on the ground that it was one of the shoes worn by Shert- dan’s horse ‘Winchester’ on his famous war ride in the Shenandoah valley. The general fairly boiled. ‘In the first plac said Gen. Sheridan, ‘my twenty-mile ride never took place, for the distance was but fifteen miles. The writer of those verses Was a better poet than a topographer, and we might excuse him for that. Next, I never had any horse by that exact name, and if I had, myself or none of those around me would have thought of secur- ing his shoes and holding them for a rise.’ I did my best to quiet him, and only suc- ceeded in doing so by telling him the relict whisky story, which used to be told of the barkeeper of the little place on 10th street adjoining Ford's Theater, the place Where John Wilkes Booth got a drink just before he assassinated President Lincoln. The place was run as a bar room for sev- eral years after the government took pos- session of the theater property. Visitors to the city always took in the bar room as one of the sights, and some of them took in the liquor sold there. The bar- keeper had a way after telling the story of the assassination of pointing to a smail demijohn and saying: ‘Booth asked me to hand him this demijohn, and he poured out a heavy drink and swallowed it dowa in one gulp. There is a little of the same {dertical whisky in It yet.’ Frequently some of those who took In the story would go further and ask for a taste of the whis- ky. This wish was always gratified for the price. One day a Maine man had a taste of it. For this taste he was charged 25 cents. The taste was, however, a $70d- sized drink, of the Maine regulation size, too. After putting down his glass he ro- remarked: ‘And so that was the whisky that Booth drank just before he killed Lin- coln, was it? Well, sir, until this time I have always blamed Booth, but that whis- ky, sir, would make a man Kill his mother!’ ” ee ed “There are more believers in the horse- ghoe than in any other of the various forms of superstition,” remarked a well- krown official, “and I have evidence of it every day. Just now, I saw a horse drop a shoe on 15th street and I waited to see who would pick it up. The finder proved to be a young lady, who alighted from her bicycle rather than pass it. Recently, in the office of the Attorney General, though t in his own room, I saw a horseshoe h has hung up in a room there for years. There is no one in the office who | one knows who hung it up. is brave enough to throw it away and no I personally know that Gen. Sherman had the greatest confidence in the luck of the horseshoe. He carried with .him for over thirty years a horseshoe he found durir g the war. One of his regrets on retiring from the generalship of the army was that he had lost the horse- shoe which he thought had been his mascot. It appears that in moving his personal be- longings from the War Department the horseshoe was lost or misiaid. People have a different idea in regard to finding a horse- shoe, but I think the proper understanding is that when you find a shoe with its toe coming to you, it means that you are to Meet your luck. Others have the exact opposite idea. They think that when the heels point to you it is a good sign, be- cause the Inside of the shoe will hold your luck. Take it any way you desire, thero seems to be a special luck about a horse- shoe.” xe kK x “I can get as much rest right here in this department,” observed a member of the cabinet, “as I can at the average hotel, and there Is not much use in me trying to get rest by going to any of them. It is the same with them all, and there fs no rest abcut any of them. Solitude, away off ina woods our on the banks of a creek, where there Is no one to talk to, is the only rest that proves to be perfect rest and recrea- tion. At a hotel there is no rest except sit- tirg out on the portico, and there one is fereed to listen to all kinds of drivel and nensense, political and social. This is bad enough, but when one receives an invitation to spend the evening at a progressive euchre party, as I did lately, my cup of misery was filled to overflowing.” * FOR KOK “It 1s all wrong, fundamentally and po- tically wrong, and the sooner the Ameri- can voter learns that there is a combine in the way of employing clerical labor the better it will be," excitedly spoke a young man a few evenings since. Both parties are equally to blame and I suppose when the third party gets its headquarters in running shape, it will be in the same boat, if not worse. The charge I make is that both of the congressional campaign committees here are paying but $1 per day for the clerks and addressers of political doc: ments. Though I am not so sure about it. I think that this figure is the result of a combination between them. Now, by this I do not mean to say that they have no clerks to whom they pay over $1 per day, for each committee have several, but that $1 per day is the price paid the young ladies and gentlemen who are engaged in sending out sp2eches and party documents. Many of the lady clerks who are employed ad- dressing speeches by the thousand cannot even make $1 per day. If any one does not believe what I say, they can talk to the clerks and learn for themselves, as I did.” kk KK XK ‘In their native state dogs never bark,” volunteered a well-known writer on dogs and other arimals, ‘but confine themselves to whines, howls and growls. Their asso- ciation with man is the cause of their barking. They hear man talking and they try to copy. The best they can do in that direction is to bark. The shepherd dogs in the wilds of Egypt have never been heard to bark. Columbus found that the dogs he left in America after his landing soon lost the faculty of barking, and if you will look up his writings ycu will see that he de- votes considerable space and attention to the phenomena.” ee KK “Oh, yes,” answered a prominent clergy- man of this city when questioned by The Star writer, “a clergyman can marry him- self. There is no legal doubt on the ques- tion, though there are plenty of ecclesi- astical doubts about it. Another thing, it is not proper form, and that settles it with many. The court of queen's bench decided in Dublin In November, 1855, in the case of Beamish vs. Beamish, that a clergyman could marry himself. There was no other issue in the case, and you can find it re- ported in the standard law books. The law of the queen's bench Is the law In this Dis- trict—the common law, where there ts no statutory law in the way. There may be statutes on the subject in the states, but here a clergyman can marry himself, as in England ard Ireland.” ex Ok Kx “Red, ripe watermelons!” said the fruit dealer on Louisiana avenue yesterday morning, as he waited upon a string of customers in front of his stor2, where a large pile of fine-looking melons covered the sidewalk. A bright colored boy came along, and, during the rush, while the pro- prietor’s back was turned, pushed a large melon to the outer edge of the walk, and gat down upon It. “How much is that melon worth?” said he, pointing to one in the pile about the size of the one he was sitting on, as the crowd got thinned out, and the storekeeper had leisure to look around. “Twenty-five cents," replied the dealer, picking the large one out of the pile and thumping it. “Holy gee! I only paid 15 cents for this one down there,” said the boy, pointing to another fruit store down the walk. “Well, I won't have you sitting ‘there ruining my trade, so you just take that watermelon and git.” And the colored boy shouldered his water- melon and got! One on Him. From Life. “What are you going to do with fhat stone, Jack?” “Going to drop it on the vivisector, down there, to see how a concussion affects the brain. It is right in his own line.” ART Mr. Carl Weller made quite a number of good sketches while he was up at Paxson, Va., and obtained material on which to base more pretentious paintings. Since his return he has started a large picture from a sketch he made up there of one of the favorite motives. The scene, one familiar to all who have sketched in that neighbor- hood, is a view of the road leading up to Snicker’s Gap. The road is bordered on one side by a dilapidated “worm” fence, while on the other 1s a still more pictur- erque stone wall. In the middle distance two trees rise, one on each side of the highway, and at this point the road dips down suddenly end ts lost to view, reap- pearing again on the distant mountain side, where its windings can be only dimly traced. This subject is of a kind that seems simple at the first glance, but upon commencing work proves to be very diffl- cult, especially on a gray day, such as Mr. Weller has chosen He left a week ago for East Gloucester, Mass., and after remain- ‘ng there for a time will probably go to Cape Cod. * * * Mr. E. A. Poole, who is now living in Pittsburg, stopped in Washington on a fly- ing visit a short time ago. He is well known to most of the older artists, and especially to those who were domiciled in Vernon Row, where he had his studio. * * ox The director of the Western Pennsylvania Exposition Society, Mr. Keating, stopped here several days ago when on his way to Baltimore and left a number of blanks with Mr. Veerhoff in order that Washington artists might not fail to be represented in the exhibition to be held in Pittsburg. Mr. Veerhof plans to send a large canvas by R. LeGrand Johnston, one of his sheep pictures which are so well known, and Mr. Johnston himself will probably supplement it with another smaller painting. It is probable that Mr. S. Jerome Uhl and Mr. Wells Sawyer will be among those who will exhibit. * * * About a week ago Robert Reid brought to the city his paintings for the New Con- sressional Library, and they are now in position on the walls. The canvases are in the west main entrance, the five hex- agonal-shaped designs being placed in the ceiling of the north gallery, and the four circular ones on the side wall of the gal- lery. The best work is in the paintings on the celling, which represent the five senses. Taste {s personified by a woman drinking from a shell, and Sight 1s looking into a hand mirror, while beside her is a peacock, which, considering the circum- stances, is not an inappropriate emblem, though it was probably introduced on a count of its splendid opportunities for color. Smell 1s represented by a woman reclining in a bed of flowers and purtly burying her face in a mass of them, which she is holding in her hands. A woman holding a sea shell to her ear represents Hearing, and Feeling is personified by a female figure, upon whose outstretched hand a butterfly has alighted. The most noticeable feature of these designs is the coloring, which, though a trifle high in key, is superb, and is bold and daring throughout the entire serte: but with such skill that the touches of pure color, which seem crude and meaning- less when scrutinized closely, combine and resolve themselves into the desired shade when viewed from the floor. This method of working gives the paintings qualities of light and atmosphere which can be gained in no other way. It is as a colorist that he excells, and his women are mere types of physical beauty, without a trace of the intellectual. The four circular patatings on the side wall are supposed to represent Philosophy, Knowledge, Wisdom and Un- derstanding, though these titles have been added as an afterthought, the artist's only intention in painting them being to make canvases of decorative beauty. * oe Just around the corner from Mr. Reid’s work are the figures by Walter Shirtaw, which are in striking contrast to those of the former artist. More conservative and less brilliant In color, they seem, however, more a part of the wall upon which they are painted, and more in harmony with their surroundings. Mr. Shirlaw's figures have none of the open-air qualities of those by Mr. Reid, but are statuesque, with a certain architectural feeling about them, which makes them more suitable for mural decoration. There are eight of these allegorical figures, each one repre- senting one of the sciences, and every fig- ure shows that much thought has been brought to bear upcn its conception. Mr. Shirlaw has given to the figure rep- resenting Chemistry a mystic oriental cast on account of the occult nature of the science. Astronomy ts represented by a woman holding Saturn in one hand and the curve of the ring around the planet is followed out by a similar swirling of the drapery about the figure. Botany, a flower- like figure, is poised lightly upon a water lily leaf, and Archaeology, wearing a look of absorption, and holding in her hand a Pragnitying glass, is poring over an old ok. Geology the artist has personitied in the massive figure of a woman holding @ globe in one hand and a fragile shell in the other. Mathematics, being one of the most open and direct of the sciences, he has represented by a partly nude figure, holding a scroll upon which some geomet~ rical designs have been traced, and a wo- man bearing a torch represents Physics. The last design, Zoology, shows a woman of powerful build resting her hand on a lion's head. She fs clad im skins, and even her face seems to carry out by its expres- sion the idea of brute force found in the rest of the figure. The decorations are painted directly on the wall, and in places the white plaster is allowed to shine through the transparent color, thus giving an effect of luminosity. Mr. Shirlaw has found quite an obstacle in the already existing ornamentation of the ceiling upon which he is working. Not only is it rather inharmonious ip color, but it is so profuse and ornate as to be out of keeping with the seriousness and dignity of the figures. * * x Mr. Leopold Moehler has recently finish- ed a portrait of Mr. Emery, once mayor of the District, which is to hang in the Dis- trict building. *One of the best things the artist has done for some time is his full length portrait of Mr. Kirby dressed in a white sult. It is not only an excellent like- ness, but is an extremely interesting fig- ure study. Mr. Moehler expects to have @ studio in one of the down-town buildings in the winter. * * * : Mr. U. 8. J. Dunbar goes today out to Gaithersburg, where he expects to spend a short time. He will probably spend some of his time fn painting, which he has taken up lately, and in which he does very good work, when the fact that his entire training has been that of a sculptor is taken into consideration. He has been at work on a bust of Dr. 8. B. Muncaster, and has also been modeling a head which he calls Purity. ———— THERE HAD BEEN NO MURDERS, But a Few Men Had Died Suddenly in the Camp. “I spent a few weeks in Black Hawk, Mont.,” remarked a treasury clerk to a Star reporter. “It is a typical frontier western town, and by the time I had been there a Week three men were killed. I asked my host if it was not livelier than usual. ‘Livelier? How?’ he asked. “‘Ain't there more murders than com- mon? “Murders? I have lHved here sence the camp opened, two years come nex’ month, an’ I hev yet to hear of a murder. Black eee as quiet as a New England vil- lage.” “Three men have been killed the past week.” “Yes. The fust one called a feller a Mar, so you kin call thet suicide. The secon’ one) tried to tell the barkeeper how to run is business, which war a straight case of bein’ locoed, and ‘tother feller danced with @ gal he knew was bespoke, which showed he wanted to die. None of them was mur- ders. As I said, thar hain’t been a murder in the camp, but some hev died sudden.’ ” AND ARTISTS|DAN, FHE BARKEEPER Bob ondeesea7 His Boss Announces His Intention of Buying age sa Biaycle. Bag Thereupon Hg Acquaints the Regu With His own Experience au in a Similar Direction. igas e HERE WAS A larger congregation : than usual in the Oft : and Early yesterday afternoon, and to the ears of Proprietor McCann the persist- ent jingling of the register was music sweeter than the voice of the Angel Israfel, Mr. McCann - had gotten back from =F Atlantic City, where, EZ Fema ay ae he had been enjoying a fine time “splashin’ in dth’ say lolke 1 phwail,” and his return was coincident with the re- moval of the beef and bandage from Dan's eye, and these two events, so pleasurable in the estimation of the regulars, caused a more than customary demand on the bot- tles and beer pumps, while of course it was orly natural that the calls of the cash cus- tomers should +be generously interspersed with hospitable suggestions from the two representatives of the house. At last, after many libations, Mr. McCann declared his intention of transacting some important brsiness, and Sim Foley declared they Me and n Big Coon and de Bike. must all join in and drink to the success of it. “Whut's de bizniss, Mac?" inquired Sim after the glasses had been tilted. “Arrah, bud yez 'ud all give me dth’ laff av Oi towld yez,” retorted Mr, McCann, with an evidently burning desire to tell all about it. “We'll all be sollum ez owls, Mac,” sald Sim, reassuringly, “an’ we'll all cry ter break our h’arts if yer say th’ wud.” “Well, byes,’* and Mr, McCann eyed the crowd slyly, “Oi'm goin’ ter boi me er bis- sikiL” Had a bo have been m: ) exploded there could not e astonishment. Me and It Went Ont. Yis,"_he continued, “Mike Doolin an’ Fergus Ma’ney, dthey wor down t’ 'Tlantic City, an’, bedad, bud dthey luk'd foine an dther bissikles. So Oi'm goin’ t’ git me wan av it brakes me back.’ In the excitement that followed this ad- ditional declaration, Mr. McCann slipped out. “Well, whut dye tink uv dat?” asked Rafferty, the tailor, in a helpless tone. Dan, the barkeeper, leaned his elbows on the bar, and a thoughtful expression spread cver his face, only to be followed by a Run Down a Hay Wagon. smile of supreme and ecstatic thankfulness. “De punchin’ I got in Dooney’s won't be er marker ter de way dat bisek’l ‘ll do de ole man up,” he chuckled. “It beats ‘ell how peop'l’s goin’ crazy ‘bout ev’ryt’Ing nowerdays. An’ now dere’s de ole man, he’s gone, too. He did'n’ ketch de silver dzeze ner git dat crawlin’ feelin’ dat makes er gole bug outen er man, but I Took to Country Roads. Gere he goes wid er plunge right inter de bisek’l fever. Say, enny uv youse fellers ever ride wunner dose t'ings? Naw? Well, here’s er dub whut did. Yer see, I hed er tank on wun day an’ I meets Bill Dickson an’ tells him dat I'm ’fraid I got sorosis uv de kidneys. ‘Yer wanter ride er w’eel,’ sez Bill. ‘I don’t wanter,’ sez I; “but I don't stan’ no bluffs,’ sez I, an’ wid dat I steers fur er bisek’l ’cad’my an’ makes er dicker fur er masheen. It wuz twenty down, den five er week, wid a mont’ fust ter break de ting in an’ git it gatted all proper.” Dan paused to place glasses for all hands and then proceeded: “Me an’ a big coon an’ de bisek’l tuk in de Smit’ sonyun an’ de W'ite Lot an’ de Munnymen’ srouns fur two weeks on my nites off, an’ we got mixt up mo’ times dan we fellers hez hed booze dis ev'nin’. Bud I got de rite pull on de t’ing pitty soon, an’ den me an’ it went out by our lonesomes. Yer see I tawt I had it dead ter rites, an’ cud steer it like er injun duz er coonoe, bud, say, I didn’t know anyt’ing erbout it, an’ dat’s straight. Dat w'eel wuz like er farrer game I run up ergin wunst down in Memphis. W’en I play. er open bet de card lose; w’en I play er copper de cag win, an’ w'en I play er dubb’l I git split evr’y time sure’s ‘ell. Dat wuz de way wid dat bisek’l. I see er feller comin’ erlong quiet an’ nice an’ I make up my mind dat I go round him sure. I try all my might an’ whut do I do? Say, I don’t do nuthin but run all over him, an’ break his collar bone. It never phased me fisical, ner de bisek’l needer, but it cost me thutty dol- lars all de same. Whut fur? Fur on- legal ridin’ an’ cussin’ de dam pleeceman whut yanked me. Well, boys, dat wuz de way it wuz at fust an’ den it was dat way all de time. W'en I try ter miss er street car I run down er hay wagg! I try ter turn er corner careful, an’ say, whut do I do? W’y I do ge hurdle ack on de curb ercrost de street. { make up mind ter on’y ride in my own nay’borhoois ar’ whut dye tink? De naybors stretch ropes ercrost de street an’ say t'ell wid er man so dead bent on murderin’ decent people. Den I tuk ter de country roads. Dat set- tled it. Me and it run inter er Sen'tor’s dorter, er slim gal dat didn’ weigh er hi dred poun’s, She didn’t strain er curl paper in de mix up. Me? Say, I wuz in de hospit'l fur two weeks. But won't de ole man hev er picnic? I wunner whut his wicder’s goin’ ter ax fur de place?” ae WILL MURDER OU bi An Old Detective Tell# a Story to Dis- prove the Ancient Maxim. “You may say what you please about murder getting out in spite of all,” re- marked the old detective to a Star man, “but I don’t believe that murder can get out any easier than anything else if the party who 1s trying to keep it in doesn’t lose his nerve.” that’s it,” interrupted the reporter in a tone of triumph, “he always loses his nerve.” “Does hi asserted the detective. Lis ten titi I tell you a story, and then you can say what you think. When I was a hoy of sixteen I had an old lady cousin who had an adopted son of about twenty. The old lady was a perfect slave to this chap, and he made her life a burden to her, but she seemed to be just as fond of him as if he were the best son in the world to her. She was quite well to do, worth $50,000 or more, I suppose, and all of it was to go to her adopted son. ‘The boy knew this, and after a while it occurred to me that he was anxious for her to get cut of the way 80 he could get her money. I was about the only one who thought that of the young fellow, though, for he had fooled cyery- body else, and he was quite popular with the entire section thereabouts. One day Charlie, that’s what I'll call him, asked me to go hunting with him, and, as I liked the sport, I was ready enough to accept the invitation, and early in the morning went over to his house. We had finished break- fast and everything was realy except his gun, which he kept upstairs in a closet in his room. In the same closet was a mus- ket that was kept loaded for chicken thieves, and with which my cousin was almost handy as he was. As Charlie finishing his breakfast he asked my cousin to xo up and get his gun tor him, but to be careful, as the other gun was there loaded, und a loaded gun wasn’t safe under any circumstances. She laughed and went aiong after Charlic’s gun. In about three minutes there was a muffled explosion upstairs and a smothered screim, and we both jumped and ran, Charlie in the lead, as he knew the way and I did not. I reached the reom through a dark hall a half minute after Charlie did, and when I got the window open Charlie had the old lady’s head in his lap, and he had trrown the musket clear over to the other side of the room. That was all that pre- sented itself then, except that my cousin hed received nearly the ertire charge of the musket in her neck and face, and was, of course, killed instantly. Charlie showed great grief, and the entire community was grievously shocked, but no breath of sus- picton ever rested upon Charlie, for how eculd it? Had I not been h kim, and had I not heard him caution his adopted mether about the gun with a load in it? In the closet was nothing except Charlie's gun, nice and clean and ready for a day’s shooting, with a lot of fishing tackle and other traps lying on the floor of the closet and hanging on pegs. Well, Charlle came into my cousin's money. as was ta be ex- pected, and I am fre? to confess that the way he spent it and the manner of his life after her death changed the mind of the community as to the kind of e man this ycvrg man was, but still no one sus- pected him of having a hand in the old lady's dreadful taking off. In five years Charlie had spent more than ualf of the money left him, ard he was learning how to spend it faster every day, until one day in a horse race he was thrown und badly hurt. He thought at first he would get over it, but in four or five days the ductors told him that he woald never cet well again, and that he would go off suddenly some day, it might be wituin the next week and perhaps not for a year. He lasted six months, growing paler and gentler every day, and gaining the sympathy of all who had ever known him. Then he joined the church, and having arranged to give the balance of the money to the poor, he wait- ed calmly for the end. It came about Christmas time, and a sealed letter was left with the pastor who had received him into the churen, to be read at his funeral. And it was read, though some effor: was made to prevent that part of the services, for In the letter Charlie told how he had schemed to kill his adopted mother by ha’ ing me come to the house to go huntin: hew he had left the guns in the closet how he had set the musket in before the other gun, and had fixed a string to the trigger, so that when the old lady took it out It would gc off and kill her (he hoped); how he had been first to get to her and had thrown the musket out and had con- cealed the string and tack to which it was fastened before I got to him, and fo on through the entire devilish design, and wound it all up with a general expression of pleasure at having pulled the wool over the eyes of all his friends and even his enemies.” =e NO CRANKS IN KANSAS. The Man Who Kicked Had a Fe Striking Views. “TI have just returned from a trip through Kanses,” remarked a traveling man to a Star reporter. “At Clay Center the land- lord sald: “The newspapers are hurting Kansas by calling it a state of cranks. There ought to be some way to stop it.’ “It may be on account of the silver question,’ I suggested. “Well, of course, we are all for having plenty of money—we don’t care particularly abeut silver. The best way would be for the gcverrment just to print enough green- backs for avery one to have enough.’ ‘How about women in politics? ‘Women have*tongues, and they ought to go into politics. Men have their business to attend to, and the women ought to at- tend to the ump-speaking—they have plenty of tim “ ‘How about repudiating mortgages?” “Of course, the farmers ought not to Pay the mortgages. When they borrowed money they expected to have good crops. They were not responsible for crops failing, and the loss ought to fall on the men who loaned the money; they can stand it’ ‘As to the subtreasury scheme?” ‘We favor that. The government ought to loan money to the farmers. It would in. crease production and benefit the country.’ “““Do you belleve In government owner- ship of railroads” ‘Certainly. The east would be benefited by Kansas grain, and Kansas must get clothing from the east. Each section is in- terested in exchanging goods, and there ought not to be any freight to pay for transportation. It’s for the public welfare. I believe in the prohibition of Hquor, keep- Ing all foreigners out of the country and re- fusing to allow any Catholics to own any property; but as to cranks—I have lived in Kansas twenty years a never met a crank who was a resident of the state, and this criticism should be stopped. News- papers are too free, anyway, and we will never have peace until the government ap- points men to read everything before it 1s printed, and keep out such stuff.’ * Knew Pugs. From Herper’s Bazar. “I don’t see why you are so proud of that pug of yours, Beetles. He's the stupidest beast I ever saw.” “That's the pont, my boy. The stupider @ pug is the more intense his merit as a ug. You might as well expect a dachs- Eura to have table legs as look for wit in a pug dog.” ‘hi elianinineaciananiaiapcteatasitiniiniaeleimibisnaanaiitie) IN HOTEL CORRIDORS “The funniest thing I ever saw in the show business,” said R. C. McBride, for twenty years a showman, and now in busi- negs in Pittsburg, at the Arlington, “was in Iiinois. It was just after the war, and I was with Van Amberg’s Menagerie. We had an elephant named Hannibal, widely celebrated as the ‘crazy elephant.” We made most of our trips by country roads, there being few railroad shows in those days. One day, going from Champaign to Rantoul, we crossed a very small stream of water. Hannibal wanted to drink, and I let him stop. He drank awhile, then threw water over himself and drank some more, thoroughly enjoying himself, when sud- denly he gave a terrible snort and started on a mad run across the prairie, trumpet- ing at every jump, and throwing his trunk wildly in the air. He stood back on his haunches, then he rolled over. Then we caught up to him, and I thought the trouble was in his trunk from his actions. An investigation showed a small-sized eel, which we removed, and the big animal trembled in every nerve when he saw the eel. I concluded to take the reptile along, and for months, when I wanted to subdue Hannibal, all 1 had to do was to show him the eel. “On Whitney creek in California, at a height of 10,000 feet above sea level, are found the only golden trout I ever heard of,” said B. W. Nicholson of Pasadena, at the Shoreham. “These fish run from six to ten inches in length, and are of a bright golden color, flecked with grayish purple, the tafls being a creamy white, marked with regular grayish-purple dots. They show all of the characteristics of the ordi- nary mountain trout and taste like them. Whether or not they grow as large the speckled trout, I do not know. The stream they were discovered in is shallow, and the larges. yet caught weighed only twenty ounces, but it gave as much trouble before it was landed as any three-pounder ever caught. At the place where they are found the air is so cold that water freezes the warmest night of the year, which may or may not have something to do with the pecullar color of the fish.” “I don’t believe the stories told about the natives in Africa and Australia riding os- triches,” said L. P. Haney of Norwich, Cal., at the Metropolitan. “Americans are the best riders on earth, but they cannot ride ostriches. I saw this pretty thorough- ly tried on one occasion. A cowboy who had vanquished every pony he ever under- took to break in was induced to try an os- trich. After an hour's hard work he suc- ceeded in mounting the bird, which at first tried to shake him off, then to get away by running, but these tactics, of course, had no effect upon the cowboy. Then, in spite of all the man could do, the ostrich su ceeded in getting jts head around and seiz- ing the man hy one leg. He doubled his feet under him, and the ostrich 1 ached over his wings and gota good hold of his back, throwing him heavily to the ground and tramping on him. It took three of us to chase the infuriated ostrich away, and we accomplished it barely in time to save the man’s life. I don’t believe the native Australians ride ostriches.” “There are some men who have what might be termed composite faces,” said T. B. Sweet of Chicago, at Willard’s. “I am one of these unfortrnate beings. I never saw but two men whom I thought I re- sembled, and yet I am constantly taken for some one el I never go into a hotel but I meet some one who shakes hands heartily and asks after my family, when I have no family. On the street I am stopped and asked if my name is not Smith or Jones or Brown. I am stared at on railroad trains and street cars, the starers usually apolo- gizing by saying: ‘Excuse me; at first I took you for a friend of mine.’ It ts positively painful. Sometimes I meet the men I am mistaken for, and I certainly do look like them, and yet no two of them resemble each other. The likeness between me and a friend of mine in St. Paul is positively start- ling, while that between me and a friend in Buffalo is equally so, and yet those two men are very different in appearance. I believe I have a composite face that resembles a mul- Utude of men “I had often read of the wonderful clear- ness of the waters of Lake Superior,” said E. F. Lane of Hannibal, Mo., at the Coch- ran, “but I never realized {t until I saw it about three weeks ago. I was at Mar- quette and took a sail on the lake, go!ng about forty miles. As we neared the shore, the bottom of the lake was so attractive with its white sand that I felt like wading in to shore. The water appeared to be about two feet deep. I took off my shoes and stockings, rolled my trousers up to my knees, and slid into the water. In a mo- ment I was completely submerged, and it Was so unexpe-ted that I did not close my mouth, and swallowed enough of the liquid to render me powerless to swim. I was un- conscious when they pulled me into the boat, and when they revived me and told me the water was ht feet deep where I stepped off, I realized the deceptiveness of a clear lake with a white-sand bottom.” “I saw in a newspaper some time ag> an account of a persor cured of stam- mering,” said Will P. Hanion of Delphos, Ont., at the National. “The item stated that this person had be2n cured by singing his words. The writer said that no one stammered when singing, which is true, and by cultivating the habit for a time of chanting or singing what was desired to be said, a stammerer could soun be cured. I have a brother who has always been af- fiicted with a stammering tongae, and I gave him the clipping. It took him several weeks to learn to sing his words, but in the course of a few weeks he did so nicely. At the end of six months he thought he was cured, but when he tried to talk without singing he stammered worse than he did before. He had become used to sing- ing his words to a tune pecullarly his own. Since that time he has never even tried to stop singing, and between stammering and constantly singing I would prefer the former. I am watching the papers careful- ly now for a cure for the singing habit.” “The southern moss is rapidly disap- pearing,” said Z%. P. Tribeaux of Donald- sonville, La., at the St. James. “A few years ago all of the trecs in the south had hanging to their branches great wisps of gray moss. It grew independently of the tree to which it was attached, and with- out harming it. It was not used for any- thing, and was not supposed to possess any value. Within the past ten years it has been used extensively for packing and by upholstering establishments. The demand has lately so increased that thou- sands of poor people in Louisiana, Missis- sippi and Alabama make their living pick- ing it off the trees, and it forms a very important branch of business in New Or- leans. It is most plentiful along the bayous and in the swamps, and the moss pickers, with their flat-bottomed boats, are among the most picturesque sights of the south now.” “The most peculiar cave I ever saw,” said A. L. Saunders of Chattanooga at the Re- gent, “is on Raccoon mountain, near Chat- tanooga. It has never been explored, and no one really knows whether or not there is much of a cave. The Indians have sev- eral legends concerning it, and it is remark- able that no one has ever entered it. It Was supposed by the Indians to be haunted, and there are some gruesome tales told about it. The only opening yet discovered is on top of the mountain. It has been sounded with a line of considerable length without finding a bottom to the chamber through the roof of which the opening ex- ists. There 1s a constant roaring sound, like the wind sometimes makes. It does not seem like water, and is undoubtedly caused by air circulating in the immense hole in the mountain. There are no vol- canic tndications, and the cave is a puzzle to geologists.” “I don’t see where the fun comes hunting "possums,” said L. T. Jones of Louisville, at the Ebbitt. “I am very fond of hunting, but I had enough of 'possums as game in one trip. In the first place they are treed at night, each of the hunters carrying a torch that throws a fine light a few yards ahead, but makes a shadow at his feet, so that he tumbles into every ditch and rolis over every log between the place where he started from and the tree the "possum climbs. On my trip we went a mile, and there were eighteen ditches and in cs twenty-two logs before reached the game. The dogs treed a "possum, and the barking of the hounds was very musical. We chopped own the tree after half un hour's work and as it fell it killed a dog. The ‘possum fell as if dead, one of th party hit it with a club to be certain that it was not alive, and we went vack home. I was told that this was one of the live- Mest ‘possum hunts the crowd had ever been on, and if so I don’t want any more of the famous southern sport” “Oysters will be a very rare delicacy in a few years,” said C. CL Hunt, an oyster- man of New York, at the Raleigh. “For many years the beds were preserved to a large extent by having an oyster season and keeping alive the Popular idea that oysters were not good except from Septem- ber to April. This save four months dur- ing which the oysters were left alone and allowed to increase. As @ matter of fact, I think they are a little better during tnose four months than at any other time. This was first discovered by the seaside hotel and oysters were served during the hs. The guests demanded bt- valves when they returned to their homes, and now in all eastern cities the signs of ‘Fresh Oysters’ are as nu: rous in July and August as in January and February, The new demand is being supp led, and at no time are the beds left undisturbed. It is now only a question of a years be- fore the oysters are gone, and the summer resort hotel men sabused the minds of the people as to their not beine 600d to eat from April to September.” all because “I found a sensible merchant in a small Ohio town last week,” said A. T. Sands, a traveling salesman from Raltimore, at the Riggs. “He keeps a general store, and I had to walt for a groceryman to get through taking an order. The merchant bought in lots that would have done credit to a jobber. My turn came next. Me said he wanted shoes, and I opened my trunks. The first item was two thousand pairs of plow shoes, and when I got through I found that I had taken the larg=st order of my life. 1 was naturally astonished and my suspi-ions were aroused, but after a thorough investigation I found there ould be no doubt of the man’s solvency The goods could not be put in his smell Sore, and I asked him what he wanted with so many. ‘Well. he said, ‘I have read the newspapers on both sides ~arefully. If McKinley is elected, a protective tariff will raise prices to where they were when the McKinley law was in force. If Bryan ts elected, It Is admitted that the free coinage of silver will raise prices. There ts one thing certain about this campaign. It will pulse prices, and I am filling a big building Town with staple goods in all linss.’ “You can put Mlinois down for Bryan,” sald E. C. Turner, an attorn.y of Peoria, at the Shoreham. “It is republican under ordinary conditions, but it cannot be car- ried for McKinley. The trouble is not on the silver issue alone, although the free silver sentiment is very strong there, but on the tariff. In no state was there a more emphatic protest against the McKinley tariff bill. At the next election, after its Passage, Ilinois, for the first time in many years, went democratic. When the McKine ley law was repealed, the publicans re- fained the ascendancy, and in 1894 sent a solidly republican delegation to Congress By shrewd management tor Cullom was turned down, n humbled by the McKinley men, and this added to the ala ready intense opposition i for the apostie of protection. Thousands of republicans are for free silver, I Would not be at ell surprised to elected h diction i tors will the republican state th y a good majority, but my pee that even if it is, the Bryan elec- mt “Kansas wil, probably republic! e its old-time nm majority this fall,” sald A. T. Landers of Topeka at the Raleigh, “and this will be accomplished on account of the constant ridicule the state has suffered from. There is a very Strong free silver sentiment, and even the republicans are not as enthusiastic in their advocacy of Protection as might be expe The sol- dier vote was largely responsible for Kan- sas becoming sc pronounced a re n State. When they wearied of repu nism the old war feeling prevented the Kansans from going to the democrats, and they embraced populism. Je: Simpson was very popular in Kansas, but when he con- stantly appeared in the newspay as the ‘sockless Socrates’ the people resented it and left him at home. Mary Ellen Lease has called forth thousands of cartoons and jokes, all at the ex e of Kansas, and Peffer's whiskers have become a source of great annoyance to Kansans. The state been greatly injured, immigration has fallen off steadily and prices of real estate have not advanced. The newspapers have so long held Kansas up as a sort of mu- seum for freaks that the people realize it is an actual loss of money to them for it to continue. Nothing of the kind occurred before the state became populistic, and there is a very widespread feeling that this fall is the time to redeem the state and stop the jokers from running dtsastroug cartoons.” ————_—_ A SHAME. Bat the Sporting Blood Overcame His Sound Philosophy. “Yes, there used to be a heap of prairie chickens," remarked a farmer near Hast- irgs, Neb. to a visitor, according to a story told a Star reporter, “but they have been pretty near all cleaned up. “It's a shame, that’s what it fs, and if the men that go to the legislature would do their duty, and the sheriffs enforce the laws, there would still be a chance to Save enough so that we could have plenty in a few years. This thing of hunting chickens when they are already about gone should be stopped.” He would have continued, but was interrupted by his son, who ran in excitedly and said: “Pop, git Four gun. I scared up a chicken on the prairie about a mile down the road.” “Call the dogs, and git the gun. See that its loaded. I haven’t had a shot at a chicken for a week,” and the old man started on @ run. a GooD SOCIETY. lord Was Very Proud. “What we pride ourselves mostly on is our sassiety,” said the landlord of the lead- ing hotel in Waycross, Ariz., to a guest from the east, who told the story to a Star reporter. “You couldn't find more refined sassiety anywhar in this country than right hyar. My darter plays the planer, sings and talks four languidges, not countin’ Injun. She's full of fun, but she kin give any woman anywhar cards and spades an’ beat her bein’ ladylike. It's her thet’s raised the tone of sassiety to what you find it hyar.” “At that moment there was a sound from the street as though a riot had started. We rushed to the window, and a crowd of exelted men, women and boys were follow- ing a man who was bound and being driven along the middle of the st “*What does it mean?" I asked. “*Nothin’ much, but ef you want to fun come along. My darter told me was goin’ to do it this mori You there's bin a tenderfoot hyar fur t a regular dude; wan't no harm in . I spose, but things was gitten’ dull, jaggie made up that she'd lasso him and make out like they was goin’ to hang him, and I see she’s cotched him. Thar’s @ heap of fun in that gal.” = Lost; or, Lucid Information, From Punch. Kind-hearted Old Gent—“There, there, dcn't cry! What's your name and where do yeu live?” 5 Chorus—“Boohoo! We'se Doolie’s twinst